A Reflection Paper to Heneral

Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral

Submitted by:

Ballares, Clarissa Mae M.

Tillo, Angelica Beatrize S.

Pangilinan, Christiane Lorraine J.

 Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral

Goyo movie portrays the battle of Gregorio Del Pilar as the general of the Republic of

the Philippines after General Luna died. He was favorably appointed by Emilio Aguinaldo

because he was his favorite. He is a favorite of Aguinaldo because he led a platoon in a battle

and they won, that was when he was noticed by the president and also the fact that he is still

young Aguinaldo might have thought that he is strong and very reliable that led to

Aguinaldo's decision on putting him in a higher rank. The movie portrayed the events that

took place after Luna's death, ending in the historic Battle of Tirad Pass. Goyo is more of a

story telling type of movie showing his personalities as the youngest general; the film showed

him as popular by his good looks, favorite of Emilio Aguinaldo. As the film progresses we

see him doubting himself because he was having an internal battle whether what that

president was doing is good for his fellowmen or is it only for himself. It was also obvious of

him to have hallucinations because it was when he was tasked by the president to catch the

men loyal to Antonio Luna and was tortured, that loyal men to Luna told Goyo that Goyo is a

dog because he is a follower of Aguinaldo, it is at this moment when he started thinking if

what he was doing is true and good that led to his hallucinations. Goyo is having this mindset

that he will be forced to be loyal to Aguinaldo to keep his rank and not lose the trust of

Aguinaldo because again, he was Aguinaldo's favorite. To sum it all up we witnessed how

flawed the Filipinos and our leaders are. Though the turnout of events were not that great the

hidden messages in the movie was clearly visible. An example would be when Joven, the

fictional character was talking with his uncle who’s the photographer asking what he could

learn from the people around him, his uncle simply said, “E di matutuo ka sa mga

pagkakamali nila”. This is what we should do at the moment in facing the problems we

encounter today.
 The film showed what happened years ago are still happening today. Like how our

politics work, they are manipulating the minds of the people and creating false news just to

achieve their evil plans. Goyo brings back the overarching theme of Heneral Luna, asking if

they have placed their loyalty on a person or a principle. There was this scene between

Aguinaldo and General Alejandrino (Alvin Anson), and Aguinaldo asked, “si Luna o ako?”.

And we can see that even though General Alejandrino have his loyalty to Heneral Luna, still,

he chooses to serve to Aguinaldo and also on our country. Goyo shows us that not all leaders

or heroes that we look up are strong enough to handle the burden of fighting for the country.

The director of Goyo stated that "Kung si Luna ay apoy, si Goyo parang siyang tubig", and

we can also notice that the flow of the story is less intense and it is more of a quiet film. It

may have negative impressions about how our heroes act on those eras, but at least, Goyo has

proved himself man enough to face the enemies and fight for our country and not just for

Aguinaldo. There was this scene during the festival that the women gossip among themselves

about the trail of broken hearts Goyo has left in every town, warning each other to stay away

or “baka ma-Goyo ka niyan.” This movie, Goyo, warns us about the dangers of falling in

deceit by false by the negligence of our leaders that fail to serve our nation. The movie goyo

was made for a critical-thinking audience, because it will make us think deeper and look

through things beyond fanfare and heroic deaths. Goyo was incredibly shallow and self-

indulgent that will make us hate him. But if we think outside the box we can't deny that some

of our heroes and leaders are like that. They are motivated by their self interest and ego. But,

we, Filipinos was also the reason why we became a laughing stock on the Americans.

Throughout history, Filipinos are the one who killed their great leaders that could really help

us to achieve freedom and independence. But, because of our selfish ways, it resulted to a

hundred of years of slavery and colonization.

 In spite of Goyo's flaws, there was still a moment where he still proves that he is

worthy of being a general. Goyo proves that maybe there are no truly a heroes, but just a

normal people who pushing themselves to accomplish heroic acts. And lastly, we know that

he would die at the Tirad Pass, but he died so matter-of-factly that it was almost anti-climatic

and we can say that this was not legendary, not like how some of our heroes that died

gruesomely. Goyo: Ang batang Heneral was a great film, but one cannot help to compare

with Heneral Luna, from being fearlessness, selflessness, and he will do his plans even

President Emilio Aguinaldo said "NO". Goyo was a follower of Emilio Aguinaldo, like a

dog. At his young age, Goyo's attention centered around furthering his career and pursuing

his romantic relationship. Eventually, Goyo learned to love the ideals, honor, duty, and

sacrifice, while he conflated loyalty to his leader with loyalty to our country, he, then,

surrendered his own life four our country. Goyo is also a representation of the youth, though

a fictional character named Joven means “youth” or “youthful” in Spanish, which also

represents us youth, but Goyo too because of being self-centered, vain, idealistic, impulsive,

and just a young lad who breaks down when afraid or loses his spirit during the defeat. He

became a hero because he fought with love in our country, not because of self-interest nor for

Emilio Aguinaldo. This film showed us that not everyone that we glorify is not worthy to

praise and not all people in power are always right, even them are capable of mistakes, fear,

and vulnerability. It was never really to make Filipinos look weak and losers but it left us

with a quote “Tandaan mo kung sino ka”, which Julian del Pilar always reminds Goyo when

lost or afraid. We should remind ourselves with this too, to remember our purpose. We need

self-reflection, to think about the mistakes we made and to learn also from these.
 Heneral Luna

This is a film about the past. Whereas only few people know about the story of

General Antonio Luna. He’s just one of the few heroes our teachers made us memorize. Most

of the time it is Jose Rizal who is the main character of the Philippine History. We forgot to

credit the passion and intelligence of others because we were made to think that it is just Jose

Rizal. Little did we know there are much more to those stories. The movie Heneral Luna is

about Antonio Luna, who in the late 1800’s led the Philippine Army during the Philippine-

American War. Heneral Luna, without a doubt, is a work of art. To see the film for the first

time even though some scenes does not seem true we can critique that it is not biased. The

scenes seemed to be fair to both Philippines and America, it does not praise Philippines nor

America. It showed us how people are politically inclined back then and how it greatly

affected every individual’s decisions and even our mankind. It was also great for the director

to add Joven Hernando, a fictional character. His name means “young” or “youthful” in

Spanish. Joven represents us, the youth, who keeps on questioning the past events,

specifically the Philippine history and observing the death and life of a national hero. The

Philippine–American War was also referred to as the Philippine Insurrection rather than a

genuine war. But for us, viewers, and a citizen of the Philippines we can say that it wasn't an

insurrection. It was a war of independence from the colonizer and this film is highly praising

Antonio Luna for being one of the greatest general of their time who stood against the selfish

officials who only think about their own lives.

The movie is a real eye opener. It sent us mixed emotions and even hostile

towards our countrymen who betrayed Luna. It is true that it is us against us, Filipino against

Filipino. There was no unity among the officials who lead the country and even the president

is dependent with the news from those who are away from him rather than those who are

close to him. In short, he trusts empty, beautiful words, he trusts other men rather than his
own men, he trust them rather than himself, he rely on them rather than his own mindset. The

movie is about having principle, caring about the people of one's nation and not being

affected by the already oppressed people because one of the main highlights of the movie is

us, Filipinos, being oppressed. It is when Heneral Luna asked “Negosyo o kalayaan? Bayan

o sarili? Pumili ka!” it already showed how politically inclined the upper-class Filipinos or

the bureaucrats back then, how they were oppressed, and how they sabotage the generals

plans. On the other hand, the movie made us feel angered, happy, and sad. Because the fact

that Filipinos have killed their own fellowmen and even “The bravest man I’ve ever seen or

the looniest lunatic this side of Frisco!”, as how an American proclaimed after seeing the

general single-handedly charges the frontline. Heneral Luna was one of the Philippines

greatest general. He was one of the most intelligent in the Philippine History, the wisest man

who ever ruled the Philippine system in fighting using brilliant tactics instead of technolgy.

Heneral Luna once said, "Hindi natin sila matatalo sa teknolohiya, pero tatalunin natin sila sa

taktika", and this was the line that caught our attention that Luna's decision are different when

it comes to winning wars. But sadly, he was killed by the men of Emilio Aguinaldo and his

plan was come into waste. If only Heneral Luna was not killed then maybe we can actually

defeat the Americans. Emilio Aguinaldo also stated that Heneral Luna was one of his best

war general and it is just a shame that he was killed. Until now it is still a mystery about who

ordered to kill Heneral Luna. Another thing, we can portray the death scene of Heneral Luna

to the Spolarium painting that was made by his brother.

The director wanted to show us the meaning of patriotism. Being selflessness and

fearlessness represented by Heneral Antonio Luna, the main character, who represented as

the leader of the Filipino soldiers. The problem was that the government lacked in unity,

which he thought that he’s enemy were the American army, but the truth was his real enemy

was his countrymen. It shows us how selfish and having no unity and loyalty the society had
before, which affect our country. The movie reminds us the willingness of our Filipino

ancestors who fought and sacrificed for our country, just to achieve the freedom and

independence that we have long been wanted for. In addition, we think that the message of

Joven Fernando being included in the movie and Heneral Luna giving him advices is to help

the next generations step up to their game in every bad situation they encounter which can

possibly affect one or many and be a leader of our own, not just when needed but every day.

To sum it all up with a quote from Heneral Luna, it will be

“Mas magandang mamatay sa digmaan kaysa magpasakop sa dayuhan”